Industry Food processing Founder Margaret Rudkin Parent organization Campbell Soup Company | Website www.PepperidgeFarm.com Founded 1937 | |
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Type Subsidiary of Campbell Soup Company Key people Kenneth Gosnell
(Senior Vice President of Finance) Products Cookies
Crackers
Breads
Desserts
Goldfish Crackers CEO Denise M. Morrisson (1 Aug 2011–) Headquarters Norwalk, Connecticut, United States Profiles | ||
1986 pepperidge farm commercial featuring milano geneva and bordeaux cookies
Pepperidge Farm is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which in turn was named for the pepperidge tree, Nyssa sylvatica. A subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company, it is based in Norwalk, Connecticut.
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Pepperidge Farm products include Milano and Nantucket cookies, Goldfish crackers, and varieties of bread. It distributes Tim Tams in the US, manufactured by Arnott's Biscuits, another Campbell's subsidiary in Australia, and Pirouettes, made in Indonesia.
History
Margaret Rudkin began baking bread in 1937 for her youngest son Mark who had asthma and was allergic to most commercially processed foods. She home-baked bread that her allergic son could eat. Her son's doctor recommended it to his other patients and encouraged her to bake more bread. She approached Frederick Marschall, owner of Marschall's grocery stores based in Stamford, Connecticut, to see if he would be willing to sell her "Pepperidge Farm" bread. After tasting a piece, he took all the loaves she had brought with her and placed an order for more. Margaret's husband Henry, a Wall Street broker, began taking loaves of bread with him to New York to be sold in specialty stores. She soon moved the growing business out of her kitchen and into her garage, then into a factory in 1940. Rationing during World War II forced her to cut back production due to ingredient shortage. In 1947, Margaret opened a modern commercial bakery in Norwalk, Connecticut.
On a trip to Europe in the 1950s, Rudkin discovered fancy chocolate cookies that she believed would be popular in the United States. She bought the rights to produce and sell them, and the Distinctive Cookies line was born. Under her management, Pepperidge Farm continued to expand into other products, including frozen pastry items and, later, the Goldfish snack cracker from Switzerland. In 1961, she sold the business to the Campbell Soup Company and became the first woman to serve on the board. She drew on her knowledge and experience to write The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in 1963, which was the first cookbook ever to make The New York Times Best Seller list.
There was a long-running series of commercials promoting Pepperidge Farm that ran on television for three decades starring actor Parker Fennelly, long member of the Fred Allen radio show cast, playing the role of spokesperson and the often nostalgic philosopher. The spots first appeared in the late 1950s, lasting through the late 1980s. Fennelly died in 1988 at the age of 96. Several of the commercials he starred in played into the 1990s.
The Pepperidge Farm logo is based on the Grist Mill in Sudbury, Massachusetts.